Altimeter Group’s Jeremiah Owyang conducted a webinar a couple of days ago, along with Michal Della Penna of StrongMail, on social media today and tomorrow.  He made two very key important points.  Don’t market your ass off (my words) only to give your traffic over to Mark Zuckerberg.  And don’t use “engagement” as a key metric when trying to prove social media ROI to your executive committee. 

Point 1.  I’ve heard on a number of occasions, from some pretty smart, that many companies are considering reducing the scope and scale of their corporate websites in favor of bulked up their Facebook efforts.  Mistake.  Overblown company and brand websites can be a blight, but they don’t really hurt anybody.  Letting all your customers and prospects learn about your product on Fotchbook on the other hand, can dilute your control and funded sales efforts.

Point 2.  Consumer engagement, often defined on the dashboard as clicks, time on site, members, views, likes, check-ins are not sales.  Certainly they can lead to sales, but until tied to money changing hands, its engagement not a wedding ring.  It’s like dating without the you know. We all know dating leads to you know, so I’m not pooh-poohing engagement, I’m just suggesting as did Mr. Owyang that executives care about da monies.  When was the last time you read a financial article the headline for which was “Goldman’s Engagement Slid 53% In Quarter.”  Peace!